As a researcher, I find it intriguing how the implementation of Runes protocol led to a significant surge in transaction fees within the Bitcoin network following the halving. The data indicates that Runes transactions dominated the network activity, contributing $117 million in cumulative fee revenue post-halving. However, this dominance proved to be short-lived as the fees decreased significantly, with current medium-priority transactions priced at approximately $8.48 and high-priority transactions at around $9.321, marking a 75% decrease in fees compared to the immediate aftermath of the halving.


Based on Glassnode’s report, transactions involving Rune generated approximately $117 million in total Bitcoin network fee income since the halving event. Notably, around $62.4 million were accumulated on the very day of the halving.

Despite the increase, the latest figures show that Runes transactions generated merely $1.03 million in fees on April 28th.

Runes Dominates Bitcoin Network Post-Halving

On April 20th, the bitcoin network experienced a significant increase in transaction fees. This rise can be attributed mainly to the introduction of the Runes protocol, resulting in heightened mining fees.

As a crypto investor, I’ve noticed that Runes transactions comprised a significant portion of the Bitcoin network transactions, accounting for approximately 57.7%. Financial transactions came in second with around 41.5%. Meanwhile, Ordinals and BRC-20 transactions represented only a tiny fraction, with 0.5% and 0.2%, respectively.

As an analyst, I’ve observed that during the recent Bitcoin halving event, the network activity was primarily driven by Runes transactions. Specifically, on April 21st, Runes transactions represented approximately 51.6% of the total transaction volume.

Starting from April 22, the once-prevalent control waned, shrinking to 42.5%. In contrast, Bitcoin financial transactions expanded, representing an impressive 56.5% of all transactions handled on that day.

As a researcher studying the impact of the Bitcoin Halving on various cryptocurrencies, I’ve discovered that Rune, in particular, has generated an impressive revenue from transaction fees. To be more precise, during this event, a substantial amount of $117 million was amassed in fees. Remarkably, over half of this sum, equaling approximately $62.4 million, was collected on the very day of the halving itself.

The current fees for Rune transactions are now at a level of $1.03M, which represents a significant decrease in revenue compared to before.

— glassnode (@glassnode) April 29, 2024

As a researcher, I’ve noticed that the transaction fee landscape has evolved since my previous investigation. Presently, medium-priority transactions incur an approximate fee of $8.48, whereas high-priority transactions cost around $9.32.

After the halving event, fees experienced a significant increase, reaching $146 for a medium-priority transaction and $170 for a high-priority one. In contrast, the current situation represents a reduction of 75% in these fees.

Long Term Benefits

Bitcoin researcher Jade Ardinals attributes the heavier network traffic mainly to an uptick in minting activities. Ardinals points out that the anticipation around Runes led to a spike in minting transactions, resulting in an “unexpected” pressure on Bitcoin’s block space.

Experts predict that the current pressure on Bitcoin will lessen in the future. Yet, they assure us that Runes will remain a significant draw for new developers towards Bitcoin.

On April 25, approximately forty-five percent of all Bitcoin transactions were represented by Runes tokens, as indicated by the data from Crypto Koryo’s Dune analytics dashboard.

As a crypto investor, I’ve noticed that Casey Rodarmor has come up with a solution to improve the BRC-20 standard in Bitcoin, which is currently facing some challenges. This standard, known for its expensive token creation and management on the blockchain, is primarily due to the excessive accumulation of unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs), leading to network strain and performance issues. To address this problem, I believe Rodarmor has developed Bitcoin Runes, which aim to enhance the functionality of the BRC-20 standard in a more efficient way.

Using Runes, users can carry out swifter transactions and generate enhanced token designs on the Bitcoin network, taking full advantage of its unique Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) structure.

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2024-04-30 22:53